Press Releases

Supplemental Funding for Gang Activity Suppression Public Hearing and Council Vote on Oct. 3 at 1:30 p.m.

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Supplemental Funding for Gang Activity SuppressionPublic Hearing and Council Vote on Oct. 3 at 1:30 p.m.Also on Tuesday, October 3: Amendment to public campaign financingand spending affordability guidelines

2ROCKVILLE, Md., October 2, 2017—The Montgomery County Council will hold a public hearing and vote on a supplemental appropriation to the County Government’s fiscal year 2018 operating budget for the Department of Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office to enhance gang activity suppression efforts.

The public hearing will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the Third Floor Council Hearing Room.

County leaders have worked to create programs that prevent, intervene in, and suppress gang activity in the County, and to coordinate the delivery of services to at-risk youth. The funding requested in this supplemental appropriation will allow the Department of Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office to immediately ramp up suppression efforts for gang activity in the County.

The Council also will introduce Expedited Bill 31-17, Elections – Public Campaign Financing – Contributions – Amendments. Councilmembers Navarro and Katz and Council Vice President Riemer are the lead sponsors.

Current law limits personal contributions or loans from a candidate for County elections or from the candidate’s spouse to no more than $6,000 from each, which means that a married candidate may combine with the candidate’s spouse to contribute up to $12,000, while an unmarried candidate is limited to $6,000. Bill 31-17 would address this disparity by permitting any candidate, married or unmarried, to contribute a maximum of $12,000 to the candidate’s campaign.

The Council also will vote at 10 a.m. on the Spending Affordability Guidelines for the FY19 Capital Budget and the FY19-24 Capital Improvements Program. The Council is responsible for setting spending affordability guidelines for the capital budget each year, and for establishing by law the process and criteria. It is also required to set the guidelines for capital budgets by resolution biennially. This year the deadline is October 3. These guidelines are related to how much the Council believes the County can afford.

The Council also will review the 2017 Fall Semi-Annual Report of the Montgomery County Planning Board. Twice a year the Montgomery County Planning Department and the Department of Parks jointly produce highlights of their work programs. Department leaders Casey Anderson, the Planning Board Chair, and Michael Riley, Director of Montgomery Parks, will present their semi-annual report to the Council for review and comment at 10:20 a.m.

The Council meeting and public hearing will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon.